News-2013-01-16

Saudi King Abdullah appointed a new Supreme Court chief on Tuesday after a royal order to reshuffle the 20-member council of Saudi senior scholars. The royal order ended the service of the President of the Supreme Court, Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Abdulaziz al-Kulliyah, who asked to be relieved. …

The world’s biggest oil exporter Saudi Arabia denied on Monday that a five percent cut in its crude output was aimed at boosting prices on international markets. ‘Fluctuations in production depend on domestic demand, which is seasonal in nature as it peaked in the summer before declining …

Saudi Arabia became one of three least indebted nations at the end of 2012 after the world’s top oil exporter slashed its public debt to below SR100 billion for the first time in nearly 15 years, according to a local report. A massive fiscal surplus caused by a surge in hydrocarbon export …

Despite the limitations of the Shura Council, the appointed women have their work cut out for them. As my friend, women’s rights advocate and new Shura Council member Thuraya Arrayed said to Al Arabiya News, “I expect this decision to open doors for qualified women to take part in all fields …

Saudi Arabia has so far used its unique ability to produce much more crude than needed to counter price hawks led by Iran in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and keep prices at levels that do not over burden the world economy.Now the world’s largest crude exporter has …

The astute among you who follow or work in the region’s utilities sector will have noticed how the Gulf has unified its energy grid. Over the past ten years the six states of the GCC have worked together to establish the region’s first Interconnection Grid. Ostensibly conceived to provide and …

Saudi Arabia will form a company to buy power from generators of renewable energy and to cover any cost difference between the purchase and sale prices, according to an official who has a hand in shaping the policy.The world’s largest crude oil exporter will present a national policy statement …

Dozens of Saudi clerics staged a rare protest in front of the Royal Court on Tuesday against King Abdullah’s decision to appoint women to a body that advises the government on new laws, a sign of growing conservative unease at modest social reforms. On Friday, King Abdullah appointed 30 …

The 46-year-old economics professor, who is also one of Saudi Arabia’s most prominent human rights activists, has been on trial for several months in Riyadh. He faces nine charges, including breaking allegiance to the Saudi king, describing Saudi Arabia as a police state and turning people and …

In the heart of Saudi Arabia’s sprawling Red Sea port city of Jeddah, centuries-old buildings tilt and buckle above the historic district’s narrow alleys, withering away in the absence of decisive action to protect them. The seventh-century historic district, with its mud and coral town …

According to a report by Citigroup Inc., projects planned and underway across the GCC region jumped 12% on the year-earlier period to reach more than $2trn, Saudi Gazette has reported. Early stage projects were up 17% to $655bn over the same period, mostly driven by the UAE (up 127%). Saudi …

While it may be logical and geo-strategically feasible to involve all regional Gulf players as active participants in a lasting and durable Gulf security through inclusive, rather than exclusive approach based on 6+2 strategy — that is the six GCC states of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi …

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights cited students and medical officials as saying that 83 people were killed in the explosions near the university’s dorms. More than 150 people were injured, several of them in critical condition, the group said, without giving details about the …

A secret State Department cable has concluded that the Syrian military likely used chemical weapons against its own people in a deadly attack last month, The Cable has learned. United States diplomats in Turkey conducted a previously undisclosed, intensive investigation into claims that …

The situation in Syria is deteriorating. The viciousness of the Assad regime, the rising sectarian divisions, and the lack of coherence among the opposition make the task seem overwhelming. Yet the history of past civil wars offers many practical lessons for defining post-war …

An Iraqi tribal leader who played a prominent role in the U.S.-backed campaign against al Qaeda militants was killed Tuesday by a suicide bomber, heightening concerns that extremist groups in Iraq are being reinvigorated by the conflict in neighboring Syria. Aifan al-Issawi, a Sunni Arab …

Deep inside caves, in remote desert bases, in the escarpments and cliff faces of northern Mali, Islamic extremist fighters have been burrowing into the earth, erecting a formidable set of defenses to protect what has essentially become al-Qaida’s new country.They have used the bulldozers, …

Senior U.N. investigators opened a new round of talks on Wednesday with Iranian officials in Tehran in the hopes of restarting a probe into allegations that the Islamic Republic carried out atomic bomb trigger tests and other suspected weapons-related studies.The semiofficial ISNA news agency …

A train derailed in a Cairo suburb on Tuesday, killing 19 young conscripts and injuring 107, Egypt\’s health ministry spokesman said, sparking protests outside a main railway station in the capital. Egyptians have long complained that successive governments have failed to enforce even …

Closer to his ideological core is an unswerving conviction that the Palestinian Arabs of Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem might as well relinquish their hopes for a sovereign state. The Green Line, which demarcates the occupied territories from Israel proper, ‘has no meaning,’ he says, …

In a boon for the Obama administration’s efforts to advance the nomination Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense, Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York told President Obama on Tuesday that he was optimistic that he could vote for Mr. Hagel’s confirmation based on his grilling of Mr. Hagel on a …

The Saudi Ministry of Health will develop six new healthcare projects as part of its budget plans for 2013, Mohammed Khosheim, deputy health minister for planning and development, has announced. Arab News reports that the specialised centres will cost a total of $202.6m (SAR 760m) and will …

The global snacks powerhouse, Mondelez International, has formed a joint venture with the Olayan Group and Khalifa Algosaibi group to manage its sales and distribution operations in Saudi Arabia. The joint venture marks further expansion in the Kingdom of one of the world’s biggest snacks …

Airbus’ history in Saudi dates back to 1983, when an order from the Kingdom’s first airline, Saudia, launched the A300-600. The Saudia fleet now includes A321s, A321s and A330s, and by 2014 the airline will be flying 62 Airbus aircraft. In addition, Nas Air’s fleet is made up primarily from …

The number of Saudi women marrying citizens of other countries increased in 2011 compared to previous years, according to a Ministry of Justice report. The report showed that 1,988 Saudi women and 2,640 Saudi men married to foreigners last year. Most of the women were in Makkah, while Riyadh …

The Gulf’s residents and businesses enjoy some of the lowest electricity rates in the world, thanks to generous government subsidies. Bahrain’s residential tariff is the lowest in the Gulf, and homeowners will pay at least a third to a half less for their power bills compared to consumers in …